Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

The fact that Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition is part of Games with Gold this month may be knowledge enough for many folks to download it. But there are reasons to look forward to the experience beyond the obvious value. What Xbox Live Gold members will receive tomorrow is not only a wonderful, Mexican-themed platformer, but the best, most complete version of Guacamelee! to date.

For those who hadn’t played earlier, non-Super Turbo versions of the game, Guacamelee! is a “metroidvania”-style action/puzzle-platformer, albeit one with actual nods to Metroid, heavy doses of humor, and one very exasperated goat.

As a Luchadore, playable character Juan Aguacate is heavy on the melee moves, with a strong emphasis on grappling. While Juan’s move set initially feels complex, before long you’ll be walloping skeletal foes with a flurry of punches, launching them skyward with a flying uppercut, then cancelling into an air grapple before suplexing them into another crowd of enemies.


Once you master those moves, the game throws dimensional shifts into the mix (reminiscent of Xbox 360’s Outland), then couples that with increasingly elaborate platforming sequences. Fortunately, a generous checkpoint system ensures players won’t get frustrated while tackling tough sequences, resulting in satisfying, “I can’t believe I pulled that off!” situations.

What makes this the “Super Turbo Championship Edition” of the title? This Guacamelee! comes equipped with two major new areas, a new, hydra-headed skeleton mariachi boss character, and all previously-released DLC. Drinkbox also further refined the game’s controls and added a new Intenso-mode, allowing your character to enter a faster, stronger hyper state.

I recently sampled the drop in, drop out couch co-op feature, which made difficult platforming sequences more manageable (and fun). As long as one character makes it through the gauntlet, everyone benefits. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition looks great, pumping out colorful 1080p 60 fps visuals, with an excellent soundtrack to match.

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition will be available for download on Xbox One and Xbox 360 on July 2, and is a free download for Xbox Live Gold members on Xbox One for a limited time.